Wireless energy transfer to transport based on route data

ABSTRACT

An example operation includes one or more of determining, by a transport, an energy transfer condition exists along a route, routing, by the transport, to a location on the route based on the energy transfer condition exceeding an energy transfer value and based on one or more traffic conditions, aligning, by the transport, a position of the transport at the location to wirelessly receive an energy transfer, and receiving, by the transport, the energy transfer while the transport is in motion.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to co-pending U.S. non-provisional patentapplication entitled, “DYNAMIC TRANSPORT ENERGY CONTROL” and U.S.non-provisional patent application entitled, “POWER ALLOCATION TOTRANSPORTS,” all of which were filed on the same day and eachincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Vehicles or transports, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, planes,trains, etc., generally provide transportation needs to occupants and/orgoods in a variety of ways. Functions related to transports may beidentified and utilized by various computing devices, such as asmartphone or a computer located on and/or off the transport.

SUMMARY

One example embodiment provides a method that includes one or more ofdetermining, by a transport, an energy transfer condition exists along aroute, routing, by the transport, to a location on the route based onthe energy transfer condition exceeding an energy transfer value andbased on one or more traffic conditions, aligning, by the transport, aposition of the transport at the location to wirelessly receive anenergy transfer, and receiving, by the transport, the energy transferwhile the transport is in motion.

Another example embodiment provides a transport that includes a memorycommunicably coupled to a processor, wherein the processor performs oneor more of determine an energy transfer condition exists along a route,route to a location on the route based on the energy transfer conditionthat exceeds an energy transfer value and based on one or more trafficconditions, align a position of the transport at the location towirelessly receive an energy transfer, and receive the energy transferwhile the transport is in motion.

A further example embodiment provides a non-transitory computer readablemedium comprising instructions, that when read by a processor, cause theprocessor to perform one or more of determining, by a transport, anenergy transfer condition exists along a route, routing, by thetransport, to a location on the route based on the energy transfercondition exceeding an energy transfer value and based on one or moretraffic conditions, aligning, by the transport, a position of thetransport at the location to wirelessly receive an energy transfer, andreceiving, by the transport, the energy transfer while the transport isin motion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates an example system diagram of a transport operation,according to example embodiments.

FIGS. 1B-1E illustrate examples of energy transfer between transports,according to example embodiments.

FIG. IF illustrates various energy transfer ports of a transport,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2A illustrates another transport network diagram of a transportoperating sensors, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2B illustrates another transport network diagram, according toexample embodiments.

FIG. 2C illustrates yet another transport network diagram, according toexample embodiments.

FIG. 2D illustrates a further transport network diagram, according toexample embodiments.

FIG. 2E illustrates yet a further transport network diagram, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 2F illustrates a diagram depicting electrification of one or moreelements, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2G illustrates a diagram depicting interconnections betweendifferent elements, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2H illustrates a further diagram depicting interconnections betweendifferent elements, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2I illustrates yet a further diagram depicting interconnectionsbetween elements, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 3A illustrates a flow diagram, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 3B illustrates another flow diagram, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 3C illustrates yet another flow diagram, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a machine learning transport network diagram,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5A illustrates an example vehicle configuration for managingdatabase transactions associated with a vehicle, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 5B illustrates another example vehicle configuration for managingdatabase transactions conducted among various vehicles, according toexample embodiments

FIG. 6A illustrates a blockchain architecture configuration, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 6B illustrates another blockchain configuration, according toexample embodiments.

FIG. 6C illustrates a blockchain configuration for storing blockchaintransaction data, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 6D illustrates example data blocks, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example system that supports one or more of theexample embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It will be readily understood that the instant components, as generallydescribed and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged anddesigned in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, thefollowing detailed description of the embodiments of at least one of amethod, apparatus, non-transitory computer readable medium and system,as represented in the attached figures, is not intended to limit thescope of the application as claimed but is merely representative ofselected embodiments.

Communications between the transport(s) and certain entities, such asremote servers, and local computing devices (e.g., smartphones, personalcomputers, transport-embedded computers, etc.) may be received andprocessed by one or more ‘components’ which may be hardware, firmware,software or a combination thereof. The components may be part of any ofthese entities or computing devices or other computing devices. In oneexample, consensus decisions related to blockchain transactions may beperformed by computing devices or components associated with thetransport(s) and one or more of the components outside or at a remotelocation from the transport(s). A consensus decision or protocol is aprocess to achieve agreement on a value, state, result, input, output,condition, etc. between one or more nodes or peers in the network.

The instant features, structures, or characteristics as describedthroughout this specification may be combined in any suitable manner inone or more embodiments. For example, the usage of the phrases “exampleembodiments”, “some embodiments”, or other similar language, throughoutthis specification refers to the fact that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentmay be included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of thephrases “example embodiments”, “in some embodiments”, “in otherembodiments”, or other similar language, throughout this specificationdo not necessarily all refer to the same group of embodiments, and thedescribed features, structures, or characteristics may be combined inany suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the diagrams, anyconnection between elements can permit one-way and/or two-waycommunication even if the depicted connection is a one-way or two-wayarrow. In the current solution, a transport may include one or more ofcars, trucks, walking area battery electric vehicle (BEV), e-Palette,fuel cell bus, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, boats, recreationalvehicles, planes, and any object that may be used to transport peopleand or goods from one location to another.

In addition, while the term “message” may have been used in thedescription of embodiments, other types of network data, such as, apacket, frame, datagram, etc. may also be used. Furthermore, whilecertain types of messages and signaling may be depicted in exemplaryembodiments they are not limited to a certain type of message andsignaling.

Example embodiments provide methods, systems, components, non-transitorycomputer readable media, devices, and/or networks, which provide atleast one of: a transport (also referred to as a vehicle or car herein),a data collection system, a data monitoring system, a verificationsystem, an authorization system and a vehicle data distribution system.The vehicle status condition data, received in the form of communicationmessages, such as wireless data network communications and/or wiredcommunication messages, may be processed to identify vehicle/transportstatus conditions and provide feedback as to the condition and/orchanges of a transport. In one example, a user profile may be applied toa particular transport/vehicle to authorize a current vehicle event,service stops at service stations, to authorize subsequent vehiclerental services, and enable vehicle to vehicle communications.

Within the communication infrastructure, a decentralized database is adistributed storage system, which includes multiple nodes thatcommunicate with each other. A blockchain is an example of adecentralized database, which includes an append-only immutable datastructure (i.e. a distributed ledger) capable of maintaining recordsbetween untrusted parties. The untrusted parties are referred to hereinas peers, nodes or peer nodes. Each peer maintains a copy of thedatabase records and no single peer can modify the database recordswithout a consensus being reached among the distributed peers. Forexample, the peers may execute a consensus protocol to validateblockchain storage entries, group the storage entries into blocks, andbuild a hash chain via the blocks. This process forms the ledger byordering the storage entries, as is necessary, for consistency. In apublic or permissionless blockchain, anyone can participate without aspecific identity. Public blockchains can involve crypto-currencies anduse consensus based on various protocols such as proof of work (PoW).Conversely, a permissioned blockchain database can secure interactionsamong a group of entities, which share a common goal, but which do notor cannot fully trust one another, such as businesses that exchangefunds, goods, information, and the like. The instant solution canfunction in a permissioned and/or a permissionless blockchain setting.

Smart contracts are trusted distributed applications, which leveragetamper-proof properties of the shared or distributed ledger (which maybe in the form of a blockchain) and an underlying agreement betweenmember nodes, which is referred to as an endorsement or endorsementpolicy. In general, blockchain entries are “endorsed” before beingcommitted to the blockchain while entries, which are not endorsed aredisregarded. A typical endorsement policy allows smart contractexecutable code to specify endorsers for an entry in the form of a setof peer nodes that are necessary for endorsement. When a client sendsthe entry to the peers specified in the endorsement policy, the entry isexecuted to validate the entry. After validation, the entries enter anordering phase in which a consensus protocol is used to produce anordered sequence of endorsed entries grouped into blocks.

Nodes are the communication entities of the blockchain system. A “node”may perform a logical function in the sense that multiple nodes ofdifferent types can run on the same physical server. Nodes are groupedin trust domains and are associated with logical entities that controlthem in various ways. Nodes may include different types, such as aclient or submitting-client node, which submits an entry-invocation toan endorser (e.g., peer), and broadcasts entry-proposals to an orderingservice (e.g., ordering node). Another type of node is a peer node,which can receive client submitted entries, commit the entries andmaintain a state and a copy of the ledger of blockchain entries. Peerscan also have the role of an endorser. An ordering-service-node ororderer is a node running the communication service for all nodes, andwhich implements a delivery guarantee, such as a broadcast to each ofthe peer nodes in the system when committing entries and modifying aworld state of the blockchain. The world state can constitute theinitial blockchain entry, which normally includes control and setupinformation.

A ledger is a sequenced, tamper-resistant record of all statetransitions of a blockchain. State transitions may result from smartcontract executable code invocations (i.e., entries) submitted byparticipating parties (e.g., client nodes, ordering nodes, endorsernodes, peer nodes, etc.). An entry may result in a set of assetkey-value pairs being committed to the ledger as one or more operands,such as creates, updates, deletes, and the like. The ledger includes ablockchain (also referred to as a chain), which is used to store animmutable, sequenced record in blocks. The ledger also includes a statedatabase, which maintains a current state of the blockchain. There istypically one ledger per channel. Each peer node maintains a copy of theledger for each channel of which they are a member.

A chain is an entry log structured as hash-linked blocks, and each blockcontains a sequence of N entries where N is equal to or greater thanone. The block header includes a hash of the blocks' entries, as well asa hash of the prior block's header. In this way, all entries on theledger may be sequenced and cryptographically linked together.Accordingly, it is not possible to tamper with the ledger data withoutbreaking the hash links. A hash of a most recently added blockchainblock represents every entry on the chain that has come before it,making it possible to ensure that all peer nodes are in a consistent andtrusted state. The chain may be stored on a peer node file system (i.e.,local, attached storage, cloud, etc.), efficiently supporting theappend-only nature of the blockchain workload.

The current state of the immutable ledger represents the latest valuesfor all keys that are included in the chain entry log. Since the currentstate represents the latest key values known to a channel, it issometimes referred to as a world state. Smart contract executable codeinvocations execute entries against the current state data of theledger. To make these smart contract executable code interactionsefficient, the latest values of the keys may be stored in a statedatabase. The state database may be simply an indexed view into thechain's entry log and can therefore be regenerated from the chain at anytime. The state database may automatically be recovered (or generated ifneeded) upon peer node startup, and before entries are accepted.

A blockchain is different from a traditional database in that theblockchain is not a central storage but rather a decentralized,immutable, and secure storage, where nodes must share in changes torecords in the storage. Some properties that are inherent in blockchainand which help implement the blockchain include, but are not limited to,an immutable ledger, smart contracts, security, privacy,decentralization, consensus, endorsement, accessibility, and the like.

Example embodiments provide a service to a particular vehicle and/or auser profile that is applied to the vehicle. For example, a user may bethe owner of a vehicle or the operator of a vehicle owned by anotherparty. The vehicle may require service at certain intervals and theservice needs may require authorization prior to permitting the servicesto be received. Also, service centers may offer services to vehicles ina nearby area based on the vehicle's current route plan and a relativelevel of service requirements (e.g., immediate, severe, intermediate,minor, etc.). The vehicle needs may be monitored via one or more vehicleand/or road sensors or cameras, which report sensed data to a centralcontroller computer device in and/or apart from the vehicle. This datais forwarded to a management server for review and action. A sensor maybe located on one or more of the interior of the transport, the exteriorof the transport, on a fixed object apart from the transport, and onanother transport proximate the transport. The sensor may also beassociated with the transport's speed, the transport's braking, thetransport's acceleration, fuel levels, service needs, the gear-shiftingof the transport, the transport's steering, and the like. A sensor, asdescribed herein, may also be a device, such as a wireless device inand/or proximate to the transport. Also, sensor information may be usedto identify whether the vehicle is operating safely and whether anoccupant has engaged in any unexpected vehicle conditions, such asduring a vehicle access and/or utilization period. Vehicle informationcollected before, during and/or after a vehicle's operation may beidentified and stored in a transaction on a shared/distributed ledger,which may be generated and committed to the immutable ledger asdetermined by a permission granting consortium, and thus in a“decentralized” manner, such as via a blockchain membership group.

Each interested party (i.e., owner, user, company, agency, etc.) maywant to limit the exposure of private information, and therefore theblockchain and its immutability can be used to manage permissions foreach particular user vehicle profile. A smart contract may be used toprovide compensation, quantify a user profile score/rating/review, applyvehicle event permissions, determine when service is needed, identify acollision and/or degradation event, identify a safety concern event,identify parties to the event and provide distribution to registeredentities seeking access to such vehicle event data. Also, the resultsmay be identified, and the necessary information can be shared among theregistered companies and/or individuals based on a consensus approachassociated with the blockchain. Such an approach could not beimplemented on a traditional centralized database.

Various driving systems of the instant solution can utilize software, anarray of sensors as well as machine learning functionality, lightdetection and ranging (LIDAR) projectors, radar, ultrasonic sensors,etc. to create a map of terrain and road that a transport can use fornavigation and other purposes. In some embodiments, GPS, maps, cameras,sensors and the like can also be used in autonomous vehicles in place ofLIDAR.

The instant solution includes, in certain embodiments, authorizing avehicle for service via an automated and quick authentication scheme.For example, driving up to a charging station or fuel pump may beperformed by a vehicle operator or an autonomous transport and theauthorization to receive charge or fuel may be performed without anydelays provided the authorization is received by the service and/orcharging station. A vehicle may provide a communication signal thatprovides an identification of a vehicle that has a currently activeprofile linked to an account that is authorized to accept a service,which can be later rectified by compensation. Additional measures may beused to provide further authentication, such as another identifier maybe sent from the user's device wirelessly to the service center toreplace or supplement the first authorization effort between thetransport and the service center with an additional authorizationeffort.

Data shared and received may be stored in a database, which maintainsdata in one single database (e.g., database server) and generally at oneparticular location. This location is often a central computer, forexample, a desktop central processing unit (CPU), a server CPU, or amainframe computer. Information stored on a centralized database istypically accessible from multiple different points. A centralizeddatabase is easy to manage, maintain, and control, especially forpurposes of security because of its single location. Within acentralized database, data redundancy is minimized as a single storingplace of all data also implies that a given set of data only has oneprimary record. A blockchain may be used for storing transport-relateddata and transactions.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example system diagram 100 of a transportoperation according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 1A, thetransports may include one or more providing transports 110 and one ormore receiving transports 120. In this example, there may be one ofeach, however, there may be more depending on the situation. Forexample, one receiving transport 120 may have multiple energy providingtransports 110 providing energy in a single energy sharing session or inseveral sessions over a period of time. A server 130 may be acommunication entity which operates on a network that provides a serviceto the transports 110/120 to participate in energy sharing events. Alltransports may have their own on-board computing device(s), such as anembedded computing device, a mobile device inside the transport, etc.Also, each transport may have its own communication service, such as anywireless service using any wireless protocol.

The events conducted between transports may include vehicle-to-vehicle(V2V) sharing of charge or other energy by aligning the transports nearone another in any one or more of a parked situation, while moving at aparticular speed in a fixed position and/or while moving around from oneposition to another with respect to one another either in a parking areaor on a roadway. The ability to identify whether a potential chargingevent may occur at any specific time may be based on certain energytransfer conditions, such as how much charge or energy is available fromone transport to provide to another, how much time it will take to havethe transports meet on the roadway to initiate a transfer, the intendeddestinations of the transports, a status of the transports (e.g., busy,not busy, willing to share, not willing to share, etc.). The trafficconditions may include how much traffic is on the roadway, a time ofday, and a particular anticipated event (accident, weather, rush-hour,etc.). Certain traffic conditions are more favorable to completing anenergy transfer event. In one example, heavy stop-and-go traffic may ormay not be a favorable event since the distance between the transportsmay or may not be consistent especially depending on the type oftransport(s) providing/receiving the energy, which may be anothercondition to consider when planning an event.

In one example embodiment, when the potential recipient of the energy,such as the receiving transport 120 has received information 112regarding when and where an energy transfer event may occur depending onenergy transfer conditions and/or traffic conditions, the receivingtransport 120 can accept/setup an energy transfer event. The event maybe logged via the server 130 and shared with the participatingtransports 110/120 which are set up to participate in such an event. Inanother embodiment, the receiving transport 120 may communicate directlywith the providing transport 110 and/or the server 130 to set up atransfer of energy. The process may also include determining, by thereceiving transport 120 (via a computing platform) and since an energytransfer condition exists along the current route, routing the transport114 to a location on a route based on the energy transfer conditionexceeding an energy transfer value and based on one or more trafficconditions. The energy transfer value may weight a set of conditions ina function to determine whether the event is above the threshold of thetransfer value. For example, if the transports are both near one anotherby a set distance (e.g., 10 miles), are headed in the same direction,can catch-up to one another without pulling over (e.g., one transportslows and another increases speed, etc.). The combined weight score mayrequire a value equal to or above the energy transfer value in order forthe event to proceed. The process may also include aligning 116, by thetransport, a position of the transport at the intended transfer locationto wirelessly receive the energy transfer. The routing and aligningoperations may include moving the receiving/providing transport 120/110along a particular route for a particular time and at a particular speedso the receiving/providing transports 120/110 can then align theirpositions in a particular lane on a multi-lane roadway for wirelessenergy (i.e., charge) to flow from one location (or port) to another.Since the roadway may include various obstacles (such as moving trafficof other transports, construction, traffic, varying weather conditions,etc.), the receiving transport 120 may change positions during an energytransfer event 122 and receive additional energy 124 in a differentlocation on the transport than the first location. The final result ofan energy transfer event 126 may be shared with a server 130 to confirmthe parties, the profiles, the amount of energy transferred, thelocation, the amount of time, values received and/or exchanged, etc. Thelocations may include receiving and providing capabilities via abilateral (providing/receiving) charge interface.

The energy transfer events, such as electric charge sharing may beperformed while the transports are stationary or in motion. Before anevent can be setup and performed, the server 130 and/or the transports110/120 may perform determining the one or more traffic conditions alongthe route and determining the transport location and one or moreadditional transport locations and whether the one or more trafficconditions and the transport location(s) will satisfy the energytransfer condition prior to engaging in an energy transfer event. In oneexample, the energy transfer condition may include a certain amount ofcharge needed within a certain distance of the receiving transport'sroute and within a certain amount of time. Those conditions may serve asrequirements to identifying a candidate providing transport. When one ormore of those conditions can be met with a certain degree of accuracy(i.e., 5 percent or less), then the event may be deemed acceptable. Theenergy requirement level may be an estimated amount of charge that islikely to be exchanged based on the various conditions identified.

Once an event is triggered due to the event criteria being above theenergy requirement level of the energy transfer condition(s), thetransports may have an alignment plan (as provided from the server 130to the transports 110/120) as to how the transfer will occur, such asidentifying a current and future position of the one or more transportsin motion and changing one or more positions of the transport to bewithin a distance of one another to receive and provide energy betweenthe transports. An energy transfer event may include the receivingtransport 120 receiving a certain portion of energy from one providingtransport 110. Then after a period of time, the position of either oneor both of the transports may change, and additional energy may beprovided in a different position and via a different port on one or bothtransports (see FIGS. 1B-1F). Various different energy sharingconfigurations may be used in a single energy sharing event.

FIGS. 1B-1E illustrate different examples of energy sharing while on aroadway according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 1B, thetransports 110/120 are at a first distance D1, which may be too far awayto engage an energy transfer event. The distance required for an energysharing event may be required to be smaller than the example of D1,which for this example may be approximately 15 feet. In order to obtaina wireless charge, the distance may be required to be 10 feet or less.

In FIG. 1C, the providing transport 110 may offer a charge from a frontportion of the providing transport 110 to a rear portion of thereceiving transport 120. The two transports may be in a position wherethey can remain relatively fixed to one another while moving along theroadway. The example in FIG. 1D, demonstrates the example where thereceiving transport 120 is receiving charge from a rear portion of thetransport body via a rear located port, and the providing transport 110is providing charge from its front portion via a front located port tothe rear portion of transport 120. As may be observed, as trafficpatterns change, the positions of the transports with respect to oneanother may change. As a result, the charge ports used in a charge eventsession may be toggled between one another interchangeably, however, theaggregate charge may be based on the time one or more ports on theproviding transport 110 are engaged with one or more ports on thereceiving transport 120. In another example of FIG. 1E, the corner portof the front of the providing transport 110 may be providing charge to acorner port of the rear of the receiving transport 120.

FIG. 1F illustrates a transport having various charge ports around thetransport body according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 1F,the example 150 illustrates how the receiving transport 120 may havevarious energy sharing/receiving ports 152-162 and potentially morewhich extend around the entire transport body. Any of the ports may beconnected to one or more batteries or other energy sources which canreceive and store energy or share and expel energy. In this example, ata first time T1, the ports 152 and/or 154 may be used while theproviding transport 110 is near those portions of the transport. At alater time T2, the ports in the front area of the transport 120, such as156, 158 and 162 may be used when the providing transport 110 is infront of the receiving transport 120. Then, at a later time T3 the rearport 152 may be used in a third energy sharing event assuming thetransports have changed position again. The various port locationsprovide a way to aggregate a number of energy transfers when transportsare moving along a roadway or are in a position where only one locationof the transport is optimal at a particular time.

In one example, the transports 110/120 are in proximity to each other.Ports located on the transports, such as on a lower portion of each ofthe doors are provided to allow a transfer of energy. In one embodiment,a request for a transfer of energy is initiated by one transport (inother embodiments, the request can be initiated by the server 130). Awireless connection is established between the two transports 110/120 todetermine if a requested amount of energy is able to be transferred. Thetransferring of the amount of energy between the ports includestransferring a portion of the amount of energy at any time andtransferring a portion of the amount of energy until the energy transferrequest is satisfied.

Electric charge from one transport's battery to another transport'sbattery uses at least one process of energy transfer. Wireless transferof power implementations includes at least two different varieties:inductive, which uses magnetic field coupling in between the conductingcoils, and capacitive, which uses electric field coupling betweenconducting plates to transfer the energy. Capacitive transfer systemsreduce the need for electromagnetic field shielding and can be operatedat high frequencies, allowing them to potentially be smaller and lessexpensive. One or more of these varieties and/or other technologieswhich allow the wireless transfer of energy can be used with the instantsolution.

In one embodiment, by controlling the input voltages of individualinverters (not shown) and their relative phase-shift, energy can bemaintained at an even level and wirelessly transferred between variousports on transports 110/120, as well as charging stations that containthe requisite equipment. A high frequency inverter can be used tocompensate for coupling variations while operating at a fixed frequency.A loading of the inverter can occur to provide voltage-free compensationwith nearly no current switching. Voltage gain and compensation networkscan be utilized to provide voltage and/or current gain. When couplingreactance changes from its nominal value, the inverter provides arequired additional compensation. A high frequency rectifier (not shown)can be used to provide variable compensation at a fixed frequency whilemaintaining high efficiency.

While a pair of transports, or even three or more transports, areengaged in a roadway moving energy transfer event, a control entity maybe necessary to maintain control of the transports for roadway safetyand traffic measures. For example, if two or more transports are engagedin an energy transfer while moving down the roadway, one of thetransports or another network entity, such as the server, may beresponsible (by controlling one or more on-board processors on the othertransport(s)) for the acceleration, braking, speed, etc., of all thetransports. Also, if the lead transport in front of the pairing oftransports is ahead of the other transport(s), then that transport mayprovide the braking and speed control of both transports while thetransfer is engaged. Once the transfer has stopped, the transports maymaintain their own controls again and become independent of one another.

In one example embodiment, the energy exchange may include receiving aportion of the energy transfer at a first location of the transport bodyfor a first period of time, and receiving another portion of the energytransfer at a second location of the transport body for a second periodof time to complete the energy transfer. The aggregate of the chargelocations may be equal to the complete energy transfer. The process mayinclude determining an estimated amount of time, based on one or moretraffic conditions, the transport, and one or more additionaltransports, and how the transports will be optimally aligned whilemoving during the energy transfer, and determining the energy transfercondition exists based on the estimated amount of time and whetherenough charge can be exchanged.

When an energy transfer occurs, the transport may receive a validationof the energy transfer from at least one component (as described and/ordepicted herein), and the validation may include a blockchain consensusbetween a peer group consisting of the transport (or one or more deviceswithin the transport) and the at least one component, and the processmay also include executing a smart contract, by the transport, to recordthe validation and the at least one component on a blockchain based onthe blockchain consensus.

In one example embodiment, a transport is able to determine a best timeand location to perform a wireless energy transfer with anothertransport. The time and location may be based on current or futuretraffic on a route, a current or future road condition on the route,and/or a current or future weather condition on the route, and the routemay be the route of the receiving or providing transport(s). In oneembodiment, a transport needing energy 120 notifies one or more of theserver 130 and the transport capable of providing energy 110. Thenotification sent by the transport 120 includes one or more of a currentlocation of the transport, an amount of remaining energy in thetransport, a future location where the transport will exhaust itsenergy, and a time when first transport will be without energy. Thenotification can be sent directly by the transport 120 to the transport110 if a location and availability of the transport 120 is known. Thenotification can also be sent by the transport 120 to the server 130requesting energy by other transports. The server 130 determines if thetransport 110 (or other transports) are able to meet the transport 120prior to the time when the transport 120 will run-out of energy. If so,the server 130 notifies the transport 120 and the transport 110 of ameeting location where the transport 110 can wirelessly provide energyto the transport 120 while both transports are in motion and/ortemporarily stopped along a route (for example, at a red light, intraffic, at a rest area, etc.).

The meeting location may be based on the traffic condition data. Forexample, one or more network elements, such as of the transport 110, thetransport 120, and the server 130 can determine a probable trafficcondition at the meeting location based on recent or historical trafficinformation. When the traffic condition is optimal, for example, iftransports will be moving at a slow rate of speed and/or frequentlystopping, the location can be set for a wireless transfer of energy,which will be more efficient since the transports can be optimallyaligned for a longer period of time for the transfer of energy.

In another embodiment, whether or not a slow rate of speed is likely maybe based on a length of time and/or a distance the transports can beoptimally positioned based on the traffic ahead. For example, if thetransports are side-by-side, the traffic in the two lanes ahead shouldallow for a minimum distance of optimal energy transfer. This mayfurther be confirmed by determining an amount of time needed to transmitenough charge and to ensure there is enough roadway ahead, which can bedetermined by one or more of the network elements. For example, if thetransports are in a back-to-front or front-to-back configuration on theroadway, the traffic in the single lane ahead should allow for a minimumdistance of optimal energy transfer. In one example, the one transportand the other transport are held in place based on instructions from aserver, which may control the transports during the sharing event. Inone embodiment, the transport and the other transport continuallymessage one another to ensure proper alignment. As such, the transportsmay be side-to-side, then front-to-back, then disconnected as the energytransfer may no longer be optimal, then side-to-side, disconnected,reconnected in a different position and even to a different transportthat offers a more optimal energy transfer thus making the event a threeor more transport event.

In one embodiment, the notification sent from the transport 120 mayinclude an amount of energy needed. If such an amount could be providedthen the distance and/or time required to do so, as well as a number oftransports and/or locations where wireless energy transfer will occurmay all be determined prior to the event. If such an amount cannot beprovided, then an amount of energy that could be provided may bedetermined. In a further embodiment, the notification from the transportmay include a destination of the transport and/or an amount of availabletime to receive energy before the transport has to begin traveling at afull rate of speed. The providing transport receives this notification(directly, or via the server) and determines whether it can route to andprovide energy prior to the transport reaching its destination and/orwithin the available amount of time. Instead of a transport needing tostop and utilize a charging station, the roadway energy transfer eventspermit the transports to continue maneuvering along a route whilewirelessly receiving energy. In one embodiment, an ability to have atransmitter/receiver module that receives the energy and which ismovable via a motorized control feature may provideautomatically/dynamically calibrated controls to receive the mostoptimal/efficient transfer of energy for moving transports. Themodule(s) moves to allow for optimal connection and energy transfer.

In one embodiment, a mobile device associated with the transport is usedto act as a controller such that the placement of the device assists indirecting the energy transfer sensor to be positioned in the location ofa strongest transmission. An indication provided by the transport and/orthe other transport of the wireless charging that is occurring mayprovide a control feature which uses the feedback information tomaintain an optimal speed, location, and/or alignment between thetransports. Also, while identifying dynamic traffic conditioninformation, a decision can be made whether it is prudent to exit andinitiate charging off the roadway at least for a period of time, andperhaps resume charging on the roadway once a majority of the charge isexchanged due to improvements in the traffic conditions. An amount oftime to maintain charging on the roadway, if the charging was performedoff the roadway, if the charging was performed at a charging station offthe roadway, etc., may all be considered during a planned energytransfer event.

In one example, a trip may have a total time function where a set numberof minutes are added to the trip for a particular course of action, andthen modified each time traffic conditions change. Other factors toinclude when exiting the roadway include stop lights, exiting thetransport, starting and stopping the transport, etc. In a furtherexample, a transport may be traveling along a route where rain or stormsare imminent, visibility is poor and/or daylight is diminishing thusnecessitating the use of wipers or headlights. In such examples,additional power that was not initially contemplated may be needed andwould be retrieved from various sources. This added power required mayalso be factored into the function necessary to obtain an accurate useand amount of energy needed to perform the trip.

FIG. 2A illustrates a transport network diagram 200, according toexample embodiments. The network comprises elements including atransport node 202 including a processor 204, as well as a transportnode 202′ including a processor 204′. The transport nodes 202, 202′communicate with one another via the processors 204, 204′, as well asother elements (not shown) including transceivers, transmitters,receivers, storage, sensors and other elements capable of providingcommunication. The communication between the transport nodes 202, 202′can occur directly, via a private and/or a public network (not shown) orvia other transport nodes and elements comprising one or more of aprocessor, memory, and software. Although depicted as single transportnodes and processors, a plurality of transport nodes and processors maybe present. One or more of the applications, features, steps, solutions,etc., described and/or depicted herein may be utilized and/or providedby the instant elements.

FIG. 2B illustrates another transport network diagram 210, according toexample embodiments. The network comprises elements including atransport node 202 including a processor 204, as well as a transportnode 202′ including a processor 204′. The transport nodes 202, 202′communicate with one another via the processors 204, 204′, as well asother elements (not shown) including transceivers, transmitters,receivers, storage, sensors and other elements capable of providingcommunication. The communication between the transport nodes 202, 202′can occur directly, via a private and/or a public network (not shown) orvia other transport nodes and elements comprising one or more of aprocessor, memory, and software. The processors 204, 204′ can furthercommunicate with one or more elements 230 including sensor 212, wireddevice 214, wireless device 216, database 218, mobile phone 220,transport node 222, computer 224, I/O device 226 and voice application228. The processors 204, 204′ can further communicate with elementscomprising one or more of a processor, memory, and software.

Although depicted as single transport nodes, processors and elements, aplurality of transport nodes, processors and elements may be present.Information or communication can occur to and/or from any of theprocessors 204, 204′ and elements 230. For example, the mobile phone 220may provide information to the processor 204, which may initiate thetransport node 202 to take an action, may further provide theinformation or additional information to the processor 204′, which mayinitiate the transport node 202′ to take an action, may further providethe information or additional information to the mobile phone 220, thetransport node 222, and/or the computer 224. One or more of theapplications, features, steps, solutions, etc., described and/ordepicted herein may be utilized and/or provided by the instant elements.

FIG. 2C illustrates yet another transport network diagram 240, accordingto example embodiments. The network comprises elements including atransport node 202 including a processor 204 and a non-transitorycomputer readable medium 242C. The processor 204 is communicably coupledto the computer readable medium 242C and elements 230 (which weredepicted in FIG. 2B).

The processor 204 performs one or more of determine an energy transfercondition exists along a route 244C, route to a location on the routebased on the energy transfer condition exceeding an energy transfervalue and based on one or more traffic conditions 246C, align a positionof the transport at the location to wirelessly receive an energytransfer 248C, and receive the energy transfer while the transport is inmotion 250C.

FIG. 2D illustrates a further transport network diagram 250, accordingto example embodiments. The network comprises elements including atransport node 202 including a processor 204 and a non-transitorycomputer readable medium 242D. The processor 204 is communicably coupledto the computer readable medium 242D and elements 230 (which weredepicted in FIG. 2B).

The processor 204 performs one or more of determine the one or moretraffic conditions along the route, determine the transport location andone or more additional transport locations, and determine the one ormore traffic conditions and the transport location will satisfy theenergy transfer condition 244D, identify a position of one or moreadditional transports in motion, and change a position of the transportto be within a distance of the one or more additional transports 246D,receive a portion of the energy transfer at a first location of thetransport body for a first period of time, and receive another portionof the energy transfer at a second location of the transport body for asecond period of time to complete the energy transfer 248D, anddetermine an estimated amount of time, based on one or more trafficconditions, the transport and one or more additional transports will beoptimally aligned while moving during the energy transfer, and determinethe energy transfer condition exists based on the estimated amount oftime 250D.

FIG. 2E illustrates yet a further transport network diagram 260,according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 2E, the networkdiagram 260 includes a transport node 202 connected to other transportnodes 202′ and to an update server node 203 over a blockchain network206. The transport nodes 202 and 202′ may represent transports/vehicles.The blockchain network 206 may have a ledger 208 for storing softwareupdate validation data and a source of the validation for future use(e.g., for an audit).

While this example describes in detail only one transport node 202,multiple such nodes may be connected to the blockchain 206. It should beunderstood that the transport node 202 may include additional componentsand that some of the components described herein may be removed and/ormodified without departing from a scope of the instant application. Thetransport node 202 may have a computing device or a server computer, orthe like, and may include a processor 204, which may be asemiconductor-based microprocessor, a central processing unit (CPU), anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmablegate array (FPGA), and/or another hardware device. Although a singleprocessor 204 is depicted, it should be understood that the transportnode 202 may include multiple processors, multiple cores, or the like,without departing from the scope of the instant application.

The processor 204 performs one or more of receive a validation of theenergy transfer from at least one component, and the validationcomprises a blockchain consensus between a peer group consisting of thetransport and the at least one component 244E, and execute a smartcontract to record the energy transfer event and the at least onecomponent on a blockchain based on the blockchain consensus 246E.

The processors and/or computer readable media may fully or partiallyreside in the interior or exterior of the transport nodes. The steps orfeatures stored in the computer readable media may be fully or partiallyperformed by any of the processors and/or elements in any order.Additionally, one or more steps or features may be added, omitted,combined, performed at a later time, etc.

FIG. 2F illustrates a diagram 265 depicting electrification of one ormore elements. In one embodiment, a transport 266 may provide powerstored in its batteries to one or more elements including othertransport(s) 268, charging station(s) 270 and electric grid(s) 272. Theelectric grid(s) 272 is/are coupled to one or more of the chargingstations 270 which may be coupled to one or more of the transports 268.This configuration allows distribution of electricity/power receivedfrom the transport 266. The transport 266 may also interact with theother transport(s) 268, such as via Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) technology,communication over cellular, WiFi, and the like. The transport 266 mayalso interact wirelessly and/or in a wired manner with other transports268, the charging station(s) 270 and/or with the electric grid(s) 272.In one embodiment, the transport 266 is routed (or routes itself) in asafe and efficient manner to the electric grid(s) 272, the chargingstation(s) 270, or the other transport(s) 268. Using one or moreembodiments of the instant solution, the transport 266 can provideenergy to one or more of the elements depicted herein in a variety ofadvantageous ways as described and/or depicted herein. Further, thesafety and efficiency of the transport may be increased, and theenvironment may be positively affected as described and/or depictedherein.

The term ‘energy’ may be used to denote any form of energy received,stored, used, shared and/or lost by the transport(s). The energy may bereferred to in conjunction with a voltage source and/or a current supplyof charge provided from an entity to the transport(s) during acharge/use operation. Energy may also be in the form of fossil fuels(for example, for use with a hybrid transport) or via alternative powersources, including but not limited to lithium based, nickel based,hydrogen fuel cells, atomic/nuclear energy, fusion based energy sources,and energy generated on-the-fly during an energy sharing and/or usageoperation for increasing or decreasing one or more transports energylevels at a given time.

In one embodiment, the charging station 270 manages the amount of energytransferred from the transport 266 such that there is sufficient chargeremaining in the transport 266 to arrive at a destination. In oneembodiment, a wireless connection is used to wirelessly direct an amountof energy transfer between transports 268, wherein the transports mayboth be in motion. In one embodiment, an idle vehicle, such as a vehicle266 (which may be autonomous) is directed to provide an amount of energyto a charging station 270 and return to the original location (forexample, its original location or a different destination). In oneembodiment, a mobile energy storage unit (not shown) is used to collectsurplus energy from at least one other transport 268 and transfer thestored, surplus energy at a charging station 270. In one embodiment,factors determine an amount of energy to transfer to a charging station270, such as distance, time, as well as traffic conditions, roadconditions, environmental/weather conditions, the vehicle's condition(weight, etc.), an occupant(s) schedule while utilizing the vehicle, aprospective occupant(s) schedule waiting for the vehicle, etc. In oneembodiment, the transport(s) 268, the charging station(s) 270 and/or theelectric grid(s) 272 can provide energy to the transport 266.

In one embodiment, the solutions described and depicted herein can beutilized to determine load effects on the transport and/or the system,to provide energy to the transport and/or the system based on futureneeds and/or priorities, and provide intelligence between an apparatuscontaining a module and a vehicle allowing the processor of theapparatus to wirelessly communicate with a vehicle regarding an amountof energy store in a battery on the vehicle. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to provide charge to a location from atransport based on factors such as the temperature at the location, thecost of the energy and the power level at the location. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to manage an amount ofenergy remaining in a transport after a portion of charge has beentransferred to a charging station. In one embodiment, the solutions canalso be utilized to notify a vehicle to provide an amount of energy frombatteries on the transport wherein the amount of energy to transfer isbased on the distance of the transport to a module to receive theenergy.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to use a mobileenergy storage unit that uses a determined path to travel to transportsthat have excess energy and deposit the stored energy into the electricgrid. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to determinea priority of the transport's determination of the need to provideenergy to grid, and the priority of a current need of the transport,such as the priority of a passenger, or upcoming passenger, or currentcargo, or upcoming cargo. In one embodiment, the solutions can also beutilized to determine that when a vehicle is idle, the vehicle decidesto maneuver to a location to discharge excess energy to the energy grid,then return to the previous location. In one embodiment, the solutionscan also be utilized to determine an amount of energy needed by atransport to provide another transport with needed energy via transportto transport energy transfer based on one or more conditions such asweather, traffic, road conditions, car conditions, and occupants and/orgoods in another transport, and instruct the transport to route toanother transport and provide the energy. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to transfer energy from one vehicle inmotion to another vehicle in motion. In one embodiment, the solutionscan also be utilized to retrieve energy by a transport based on anexpended energy by the transport to reach a meeting location withanother transport, provide a service, and an estimated expended energyto return to an original location. In one embodiment, the solutions canalso be utilized to provide a remaining distance needed to a chargingstation, and the charging station to determine an amount of energy to beretrieved from the transport wherein the amount of charge remaining isbased on the remaining distance. In one embodiment, the solutions canalso be utilized to manage a transport that is concurrently charged bymore than one point at the same time, such as both a charging stationvia a wired connection and another transport via a wireless connection.In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to apply apriority to the dispensing of energy to transports wherein a priority isgiven to those transports that will provide a portion of their storedcharge to another entity such as an electric grid, a residence, and thelike. Further, the instant solution as described and depicted withrespect to FIG. 2F can be utilized in this and other networks and/orsystems.

FIG. 2G is a diagram showing interconnections between different elements275. The instant solution may be stored and/or executed entirely orpartially on and/or by one or more computing devices 278′, 279′, 281′,282′, 283′, 284′, 276′, 285′, 287′ and 277′ associated with variousentities, all communicably coupled and in communication with a network286. A database 287 is communicably coupled to the network and allowsfor the storage and retrieval of data. In one embodiment, the databaseis an immutable ledger. One or more of the various entities may be atransport 276, one or more service provider 279, one or more publicbuildings 281, one or more traffic infrastructure 282, one or moreresidential dwellings 283, an electric grid/charging station 284, amicrophone 285, and/or another transport 277. Other entities and/ordevices, such as one or more private users using a smartphone 278, alaptop 280, and/or a wearable device may also interwork with the instantsolution. The smartphone 278, laptop 280, the microphone 285, and otherdevices may be connected to one or more of the connected computingdevices 278′, 279′, 281′, 282′, 283′, 284′, 276′, 285′, 287′, and 277′.The one or more public buildings 281 may include various agencies. Theone or more public buildings 281 may utilize a computing device 281′.The one or more service provider 279 may include a dealership, a towtruck service, a collision center or other repair shop. The one or moreservice provider 279 may utilize a computing apparatus 279′. Thesevarious computer devices may be directly and/or communicably coupled toone another such as via wired networks, wireless networks, blockchainnetworks, and the like. The microphone 285 may be utilized as a virtualassistant, in one embodiment. In one embodiment, the one or more trafficinfrastructure 282 may include one or more traffic signals, one or moresensors including one or more cameras, vehicle speed sensors or trafficsensors, and/or other traffic infrastructure. The one or more trafficinfrastructure 282 may utilize a computing device 282′.

In one embodiment, a transport 277/276 is capable of transporting aperson, an object, a permanently or temporarily affixed apparatus, andthe like. In one embodiment, the transport 277 may communicate withtransport 276 via V2V communication, through the computers associatedwith each transport 276′ and 277′ and may be referred to as a transport,car, vehicle, automobile, and the like. The transport 276/277 may be aself-propelled wheeled conveyance, such as a car, a sports utilityvehicle, a truck, a bus, a van, or other motor or battery-driven or fuelcell-driven transport. For example, transport 276/277 may be an electricvehicle, a hybrid vehicle, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, a plug-inhybrid vehicle, or any other type of vehicle that has a fuel cell stack,a motor, and/or a generator. Other examples of vehicles includebicycles, scooters, trains, planes, or boats, and any other form ofconveyance that is capable of transportation. The transport 276/277 maybe semi-autonomous or autonomous. For example, transport 276/277 may beself-maneuvering and navigate without human input. An autonomous vehiclemay have and use one or more sensors and/or a navigation unit to driveautonomously.

In one embodiment, the solutions described and depicted herein can beutilized to determine an access to a transport via consensus ofblockchain. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized toperform profile validation before allowing an occupant to use atransport. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to havethe transport indicate (visually, but also verbally in anotherembodiment, etc.) on or from the transport for an action the user needsto perform (that could be pre-recorded) and verify that it is thecorrect action. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized toprovide an ability to for a transport to determine, based on the risklevel associated with data and driving environment, how to bifurcate thedata and distribute a portion of the bifurcated data, with a lower risklevel during a safe driving environment, to the occupant, and laterdistributing a remaining portion of the bifurcated data, with a higherrisk level, to the occupant after the occupant has departed thetransport. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized tohandle the transfer of a vehicle across boundaries (such as acountry/state/etc.) through the use of blockchain and/or smart contractsand apply the rules of the new area to the vehicle.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to allow atransport to continue to operate outside a boundary when a consensus isreached by the transport based on the operation of the transport andcharacteristics of an occupant of the transport. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to analyze the available dataupload/download speed of a transport, size of the file andspeed/direction the transport is traveling, to determine the distanceneeded to complete a data upload/download and assign a secure areaboundary for the data upload/download to be executed. In one embodiment,the solutions can also be utilized to perform a normally dangerousmaneuver in a safe manner, such as when the system determines that anexit is upcoming and when the transport is seemingly not prepared toexit (e.g. in the incorrect lane or traveling at a speed that is notconducive to making the upcoming exit) and instruct the subjecttransport as well as other proximate transports to allow the subjecttransport to exit in a safe manner. In one embodiment, the solutions canalso be utilized to use one or more vehicles to validate diagnostics ofanother transport while both the one or more vehicles and the othertransport are in motion.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to detect laneusage at a location and time of day to either inform an occupant of atransport or direct the transport to recommend or not recommend a lanechange. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized toeliminate the need to send information through the mail and the need fora driver/occupant to respond by making a payment through the mail or inperson. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to providea service to an occupant of a transport, wherein the service provided isbased on a subscription, and wherein the permission is acquired fromother transports connected to the profile of the occupant. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to record changes in thecondition of a rented object. In one embodiment, the solutions can alsobe utilized to seek a blockchain consensus from other transports thatare in proximity to a damaged transport. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to receive media, from a server such asan insurance entity server, from the transport computer, which may berelated to an accident. The server accesses one or more media files toaccess the damage to the transport and stores the damage assessment ontoa blockchain. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized toobtain a consensus to determine the severity of an event from a numberof devices over various times prior to the event related to a transport.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to solve a problemwith a lack of video evidence for transport-related accidents. Thecurrent solution details the querying of media, by the transportinvolved in the accident, related to the accident from other transportsthat may have been proximate to the accident. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to utilize transports and other devices(for example, a pedestrian's cell phone, a streetlight camera, etc.) torecord specific portions of a damaged transport.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to warn anoccupant when a transport is navigating toward a dangerous area and/orevent, allowing for a transport to notify occupants or a centralcontroller of a potentially dangerous area on or near the currenttransport route. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilizedto detect when a transport traveling at a high rate of speed, at leastone other transport is used to assist in slowing down the transport in amanner that minimally affects traffic. In one embodiment, the solutionscan also be utilized to identify a dangerous driving situation wheremedia is captured by the vehicle involved in the dangerous drivingsituation. A geofence is established based on the distance of thedangerous driving situation, and additional media is captured by atleast one other vehicle within the established geofence. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to send a notification toone or more occupants of a transport that that transport is approachinga traffic control marking on a road, then if a transport crosses amarking, receiving indications of poor driving from other, nearbytransports. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized tomake a transport partially inoperable by (in certain embodiments),limiting speed, limiting the ability to be near another vehicle,limiting speed to a maximum, and allowing only a given number of milesallowed per time period.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to overcome a needfor reliance on software updates to correct issues with a transport whenthe transport is not being operated correctly. Through the observationof other transports on a route, a server will receive data frompotentially multiple other transports observing an unsafe or incorrectoperation of a transport. Through analysis, these observations mayresult in a notification to the transport when the data suggest anunsafe or incorrect operation. In one embodiment, the solutions can alsobe utilized to provide notification between a transport and apotentially dangerous situation involving a person external to thetransport. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to senddata to a server by devices either associated with an accident with atransport, or devices proximate to the accident. Based on the severityof the accident or near accident, the server notifies the senders of thedata. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to providerecommendations for operating a transport to either a driver or occupantof a transport based on the analysis of data. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to establish a geo-fence associated witha physical structure and determining payment responsibility to thetransport. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized tocoordinate the ability to drop off a vehicle at a location using boththe current state at the location, and a proposed future state usingnavigation destinations of other vehicles. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to coordinate the ability toautomatically arrange for the drop off of a vehicle at a location suchas a transport rental entity.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to move transportto another location based on a user's event. More particularly, thesystem tracks a user's device, and modifies the transport to be movedproximate to the user upon the conclusion of the original event, or amodified event. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized toallow for the validation of available locations within an area throughthe existing transports within the area. The approximate time when alocation may be vacated is also determined based on verifications fromthe existing transports. In one embodiment, the solutions can also beutilized to move a transport to closer parking spaces as one becomesavailable and the elapsed time since initially parking is less than theaverage time of the event. Furthermore, moving the transport to a finalparking space when the event is completed or according to a location ofa device associated with at least one occupant of the transport. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to plan for the parkingprior to the upcoming crowd. The system interacts with the transport tooffer some services at a less than full price and/or guide the transportto alternative parking locations based on a priority of the transport,increasing optimization of the parking situation before arriving.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to sell fractionalownership in transports or in determining pricing and availability inride-sharing applications. In one embodiment, the solutions can also beutilized to provide accurate and timely reports of dealership salesactivities well beyond what is currently available. In one embodiment,the solutions can also be utilized to allow a dealership to request anasset over the blockchain. By using the blockchain, a consensus isobtained before any asset is moved. Additionally, the process isautomated, and payment may be initiated over the blockchain. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to arrange agreementsthat are made with multiple entities (such as service centers) wherein aconsensus is acquired, and an action performed (such as diagnostics). Inone embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to associate digitalkeys with multiple users. A first user may be the operator of thetransport, and a second user is the responsible party for the transport.These keys are authorized by a server where the proximity of the keysare validated against the location of a service provider. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to determine a neededservice on a transport destination. One or more service locations arelocated that are able to provide the needed service that is both withinan area on route to the destination and has availability to perform theservice. The navigation of the transport is updated with the determinedservice location. A smart contract is identified that contains acompensation value for the service, and a blockchain transaction isstored in a distributed ledger for the transaction.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to interfacing aservice provider transport with a profile of an occupant of a transportto determine services and goods which may be of interest to occupants ina transport. These services and goods are determined by an occupant'shistory and/or preferences. The transport then receives offers from theservice provider transport and, in another embodiment, meets thetransport to provide the service/good. In one embodiment, the solutionscan also be utilized to detect a transport within a range and send aservice offer to the transport (such as a maintenance offer, a productoffer, or the like). An agreement is made between the system and thetransport, and a service provider is selected by the system to providethe agreement. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized toassign one or more transports as a roadway manager, where the roadwaymanager assists in the control of traffic. The roadway manager maygenerate a roadway indicator (such as lights, displays, sounds) toassist in the flow of traffic. In one embodiment, the solutions can alsobe utilized to alert a driver of a transport by a device, wherein thedevice may be the traffic light or near an intersection. The alert issent upon an event, such as when a light turns green and the transportin the front of a list of transports does not move.

FIG. 2H is another block diagram showing interconnections betweendifferent elements in one example 290. A transport 276 is presented andincludes ECUs 295, 296, and a Head Unit (otherwise known as anInfotainment System) 297. An Electrical Control Unit (ECU) is anembedded system in automotive electronics controlling one or more of theelectrical systems or subsystems in a transport. ECUs may include butare not limited to the management of a transport's engine, brake system,gearbox system, door locks, dashboard, airbag system, infotainmentsystem, electronic differential, and active suspension. ECUs areconnected to the transport's Controller Area Network (CAN) bus 294. TheECUs may also communicate with a transport computer 298 via the CAN bus294. The transport's processors/sensors (such as the transport computer)298 can communicate with external elements, such as a server 293 via anetwork 292 (such as the Internet). Each ECU 295, 296 and Head Unit 297may contain its own security policy. The security policy definespermissible processes that are able to be executed in the propercontext. In one embodiment, the security policy may be partially orentirely provided in the transport computer 298.

ECUs 295, 296 and Head Unit 297 may each include a custom securityfunctionality element 299 defining authorized processes and contextswithin which those processes are permitted to run. Context-basedauthorization to determine validity if a process is able to be executedallows ECUs to maintain secure operation and prevent unauthorized accessfrom elements such as the transport's Controller Area Network (CAN Bus).When an ECU encounters a process that is unauthorized, that ECU canblock the process from operating. Automotive ECUs can use differentcontexts to determine whether a process is operating within itspermitted bounds, such as proximity contexts such as nearby objects,distance to approaching objects, speed, and trajectory relative to othermoving objects, operational contexts such as an indication of whetherthe transport is moving or parked, the transport's current speed, thetransmission state, user-related contexts such as devices connected tothe transport via wireless protocols, use of the infotainment, cruisecontrol, parking assist, driving assist, location-based contexts, and/orother contexts.

In one embodiment, the solutions described and depicted herein can beutilized to make a transport partially inoperable by (in certainembodiments), limiting speed, limiting the ability to be near anothervehicle, limiting speed to a maximum, and allowing only a given numbersof miles allowed per time period. In one embodiment, the solutions canalso be utilized to use a blockchain to facilitate exchange of vehiclepossession wherein data is sent to a server by devices either associatedwith an accident with a transport, or devices proximate to the accident.Based on the severity of the accident or near accident, the servernotifies the senders of the data. In one embodiment, the solutions canalso be utilized to help the transport to avoid accidents, such as whenthe transport is involved in an accident by a server that queries othertransports that are proximate to the accident. The server seeks toobtain data from the other transports, allowing the server to gain anunderstanding of the nature of the accident from multiple vantagepoints. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized todetermine that sounds from a transport are atypical and transmit datarelated to the sounds as well as a possible source location to a serverwherein the server can determine possible causes and avoid a potentiallydangerous situation. In one embodiment, the solutions can also beutilized to establish a location boundary via the system when atransport is involved in an accident. This boundary is based on decibelsassociated with the accident. Multimedia content for a device within theboundary is obtained to assist in further understanding the scenario ofthe accident. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized toassociate a vehicle with an accident, then capture media obtained bydevices proximate to the location of the accident. The captured media issaved as a media segment. The media segment is sent to another computingdevice which builds a sound profile of the accident. This sound profilewill assist in understanding more details surrounding the accident.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to utilize sensorsto record audio, video, motion, etc. to record an area where a potentialevent has occurred, such as if a transport comes in contact or may comein contact with another transport (while moving or parked), the systemcaptures data from the sensors which may reside on one or more of thetransports and/or on fixed or mobile objects. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to determine that a transport has beendamaged by using sensor data to identify a new condition of thetransport during a transport event and comparing the condition to atransport condition profile, making it possible to safely and securelycapture critical data from a transport that is about to be engaged in adetrimental event.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to warn occupantsof a transport when the transport, via one or more sensors, hasdetermined that it is approaching or going down a one-way road theincorrect way. The transport has sensors/cameras/maps interacting withthe system of the current solution. The system knows the geographiclocation of one-way streets. The system may audibly inform theoccupants, “Approaching a one-way street”, for example. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to allow the transport toget paid allowing autonomous vehicle owners to monetize the data theirvehicle sensors collect and store creating an incentive for vehicleowners to share their data and provide entities with additional datathrough which to improve the performance of future vehicles, provideservices to the vehicle owners, etc.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to either increaseor decrease a vehicle's features according to the action of the vehicleover a period of time. In one embodiment, the solutions can also beutilized to assign a fractional ownership to a transport. Sensor datarelated to one or more transports and a device proximate to thetransport are used to determine a condition of the transport. Thefractional ownership of the transport is determined based on thecondition and a new responsibility of the transport is provided. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide data to areplacement/upfitting component, wherein the data attempts to subvert anauthorized functionality of the replacement/upfitting component, andresponsive to a non-subversion of the authorized functionality,permitting, by the component, use of the authorized functionality of thereplacement/upfitting component.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provideindividuals the ability to ensure that an occupant should be in atransport and for that occupant to reach a particular destination.Further, the system ensures a driver (if a non-autonomous transport)and/or other occupants are authorized to interact with the occupant.Also, pickups, drop-offs and location are noted. All of the above arestored in an immutable fashion on a blockchain. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to determine characteristics of a drivervia an analysis of driving style and other elements to take action inthe event that the driver is not driving in a normal manner, such as amanner in which the driver has previously driven in a particularcondition, for example during the day, at night, in the rain, in thesnow, etc. Further, the attributes of the transport are also taken intoaccount. Attributes consist of weather, whether the headlights are on,whether navigation is being used, a HUD is being used, volume of mediabeing played, etc. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilizedto notify occupants in a transport of a dangerous situation when itemsinside the transport signify that the occupants may not be aware of thedangerous situation.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to mountcalibration devices on a rig that is fixed to a vehicle wherein thevarious sensors on the transport are able to automatically self-adjustbased on what should be detected by the calibration devices as comparedto what is actually detected. In one embodiment, the solutions can alsobe utilized to use a blockchain to require consensus from a plurality ofservice centers when a transport needing service sends malfunctioninformation allowing remote diagnostic functionality wherein a consensusis required from other service centers on what a severity threshold isfor the data. Once the consensus is received, the service center maysend the malfunction security level to the blockchain to be stored. Inone embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to determine adifference in sensor data external to the transport and the transport'sown sensor data. The transport requests, from a server, a software torectify the issue. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilizedto allow for the messaging of transports that are either nearby, or inthe area, when an event occurs (e.g. a collision).

Referring to FIG. 2I, an operating environment 290A for a connectedtransport is illustrated according to some embodiments. As depicted, thetransport 276 includes a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus 291Aconnecting elements 292A-299A of the transport. Other elements may beconnected to the CAN bus and are not depicted herein. The depictedelements connected to the CAN bus include a sensor set 292A, ElectronicControl Units 293A, autonomous features or Advanced Driver AssistanceSystems (ADAS) 294A, and the navigation system 295A. In someembodiments, the transport 276 includes a processor 296A, a memory 297A,a communication unit 298A, and an electronic display 299A.

The processor 296A includes an arithmetic logic unit, a microprocessor,a general-purpose controller, and/or a similar processor array toperform computations and provide electronic display signals to a displayunit 299A. The processor 296A processes data signals and may includevarious computing architectures including a complex instruction setcomputer (CISC) architecture, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC)architecture, or an architecture implementing a combination ofinstruction sets. The transport 276 may include one or more processors296A. Other processors, operating systems, sensors, displays, andphysical configurations that are communicably coupled to one another(not depicted) may be used with the instant solution.

Memory 297A is a non-transitory memory storing instructions or data thatmay be accessed and executed by the processor 296A. The instructionsand/or data may include code to perform the techniques described herein.The memory 297A may be a dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) device, astatic random-access memory (SRAM) device, flash memory, or some othermemory device. In some embodiments, the memory 297A also may includenon-volatile memory or a similar permanent storage device and mediawhich may include a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROMdevice, a DVD-ROM device, a DVD-RAM device, a DVD-RW device, a flashmemory device, or some other mass storage device for storing informationon a permanent basis. A portion of the memory 297A may be reserved foruse as a buffer or virtual random-access memory (virtual RAM). Thetransport 276 may include one or more memories 297A without deviatingfrom the current solution.

The memory 297A of the transport 276 may store one or more of thefollowing types of data: navigation route data 295A, and autonomousfeatures data 294A. In some embodiments, the memory 297A stores datathat may be necessary for the navigation application 295A to provide thefunctions.

The navigation system 295A may describe at least one navigation routeincluding a start point and an endpoint. In some embodiments, thenavigation system 295A of the transport 276 receives a request from auser for navigation routes wherein the request includes a starting pointand an ending point. The navigation system 295A may query a real-timedata server 293 (via a network 292), such as a server that providesdriving directions, for navigation route data corresponding tonavigation routes including the start point and the endpoint. Thereal-time data server 293 transmits the navigation route data to thetransport 276 via a wireless network 292 and the communication system298A stores the navigation data 295A in the memory 297A of the transport276.

The ECU 293A controls the operation of many of the systems of thetransport 276, including the ADAS systems 294A. The ECU 293A may,responsive to instructions received from the navigation system 295A,deactivate any unsafe and/or unselected autonomous features for theduration of a journey controlled by the ADAS systems 294A. In this way,the navigation system 295A may control whether ADAS systems 294A areactivated or enabled so that they may be activated for a givennavigation route.

The sensor set 292A may include any sensors in the transport 276generating sensor data. For example, the sensor set 292A may includeshort-range sensors and long-range sensors. In some embodiments, thesensor set 292A of the transport 276 may include one or more of thefollowing vehicle sensors: a camera, a LIDAR sensor, an ultrasonicsensor, an automobile engine sensor, a radar sensor, a laser altimeter,a manifold absolute pressure sensor, an infrared detector, a motiondetector, a thermostat, a sound detector, a carbon monoxide sensor, acarbon dioxide sensor, an oxygen sensor, a mass airflow sensor, anengine coolant temperature sensor, a throttle position sensor, acrankshaft position sensor, a valve timer, an air-fuel ratio meter, ablind spot meter, a curb feeler, a defect detector, a Hall effectsensor, a parking sensor, a radar gun, a speedometer, a speed sensor, atire-pressure monitoring sensor, a torque sensor, a transmission fluidtemperature sensor, a turbine speed sensor (TSS), a variable reluctancesensor, a vehicle speed sensor (VSS), a water sensor, a wheel speedsensor, a GPS sensor, a mapping functionality, and any other type ofautomotive sensor. The navigation system 295A may store the sensor datain the memory 297A.

The communication unit 298A transmits and receives data to and from thenetwork 292 or to another communication channel. In some embodiments,the communication unit 298A may include a DSRC transceiver, a DSRCreceiver and other hardware or software necessary to make the transport276 a DSRC-equipped device.

The transport 276 may interact with other transports 277 via V2Vtechnology. V2V communication includes sensing radar informationcorresponding to relative distances to external objects, receiving GPSinformation of the transports, setting areas as areas where the othertransports 277 are located based on the sensed radar information,calculating probabilities that the GPS information of the objectvehicles will be located at the set areas, and identifying transportsand/or objects corresponding to the radar information and the GPSinformation of the object vehicles based on the calculatedprobabilities, in one embodiment.

In one embodiment, the solutions described and depicted herein can beutilized to manage emergency scenarios and transport features when atransport is determined to be entering an area without network access.In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to manage andprovide features in a transport (such as audio, video, navigation, etc.)without network connection. In one embodiment, the solutions can also beutilized to determine when a profile of a person in proximity to thetransport matches profile attributes of a profile of at least oneoccupant in the transport. A notification is sent from the transport toestablish communication.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to analyze theavailability of occupants in respective transports that are availablefor a voice communication based on an amount of time remaining in thetransport and context of the communication to be performed. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to determine two levelsof threat of roadway obstruction and receiving a gesture that mayindicate that the obstruction is not rising to an alert above athreshold, and proceeding, by the transport along the roadway. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to delete sensitive datafrom a transport when the transport has had damage such that it isrendered unable to be used.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to verify that thecustomer data to be removed has truly been removed from all of therequired locations within the enterprise demonstrating GDPR compliance.In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provideconsideration from one transport to another transport in exchange fordata related to safety, important notifications, etc. to enhance theautonomous capabilities of the lower level autonomous vehicle. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide an ability fora transport to receive data based on a first biometric associated withan occupant. Then the transport unencrypts the encrypted data based on averification of a second biometric, wherein the second biometric is acontinuum of the first biometric. The transport provides the unencrypteddata to the occupant when only the occupant is able to receive theunencrypted data and deletes a sensitive portion of the unencrypted dataas the sensitive portion is being provided and a non-sensitive portionafter a period of time associated with the biometric elapses. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide an ability fora transport to validate an individual based on a weight and grippressure applied to the steering wheel of the transport. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide a feature to acar that exists but is not currently enabled presenting features to anoccupant of the automobile that reflects the occupant's characteristics.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to allow for themodification of a transport, particularly the interior of the transportas well as the exterior of the transport to reflect, and assist at leastone occupant, in one embodiment. In another embodiment, recreating anoccupant's work and/or home environment is disclosed. The system mayattempt to “recreate” the user's work/home environment while the user isin the transport if it determines that the user is in “work mode” or“home mode”. All data related to the interior and exterior of thetransport as well as the various occupants utilizing the transport arestored on a blockchain and executed via smart contracts. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to detect occupantgestures to assist in communicating with nearby transports wherein thetransport may maneuver accordingly. In one embodiment, the solutions canalso be utilized to provide the ability for a transport to detectintended gestures using a gesture definition datastore. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide an ability fora transport to take various actions based on a gait and a gesture of auser. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to ensurethat a driver of a transport that is currently engaged in variousoperations (for example, driving while talking with navigation on, etc.)does not exceed an unsafe number of operations before being permitted togesture.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to assign a statusto each occupant in a transport and validating a gesture from anoccupant based on the occupant's status. In one embodiment, thesolutions can also be utilized to collect details of sound related to acollision (in what location, in what direction, rising or falling, fromwhat device, data associated with the device such as type, manufacturer,owner, as well as the number of contemporaneous sounds, and the timesthe sounds were emanated, etc.) and provide to the system where analysisof the data assists in determining details regarding the collision. Inone embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide adetermination that a transport is unsafe to operate. The transportincludes multiple components that interoperate to control the transport,and each component is associated with a separate component key. Acryptographic key is sent to the transport to decrease transportfunctionality. In response to receiving the cryptographic key, thetransport disables one or more of the component keys. Disabling the oneor more component keys results in one or more of limiting the transportto not move greater than a given speed, limiting the transport to notcome closer than a distance to another transport, and limiting thetransport to not travel greater than a threshold distance.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide anindication from one specific transport (that is about to vacate alocation) to another specific transport (that is seeking to occupy alocation), a blockchain is used to perform authentication andcoordination. In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized todetermine a fractional responsibility for a transport. Such as the casewhere multiple people own a single transport, and the use of thetransport, which may change over a period of time, is used by the systemto update the fractional ownership. Other embodiments will be includedin the application including a minimal ownership of a transport based onnot the use of the transport, but the availability of the transport, andthe determination of the driver of the transport as well as others.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to permit in atransport a user to his/her subscriptions with a closed group of peoplesuch as family members or friends. For example, a user might want toshare a membership, and if so, associated transactions are stored in ablockchain or traditional database. When the subscribed materials arerequested by a user, who is not a primary subscriber, a blockchain node(i.e., a transport) can verify that a person requesting a service is anauthorized person with whom the subscriber has shared the profile. Inone embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to allow a person toutilize supplemental transport(s) to arrive at an intended destination.A functional relationship value (e.g. value that indicates the variousparameters and their importance in determining what type of alternatetransport to utilize) is used in determining the supplemental transport.In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to allow theoccupants in an accident to have access to other transports to continueto their initial destination.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to propagate asoftware/firmware upload to a first subset of transports. This first setof transports test the update, and when the test is successful, theupdate is propagated to a further set of transports. In one embodiment,the solutions can also be utilized to propagate software/firmwareupdates to vehicles from a master transport where the update ispropagated through the network of vehicles from a first subset, then alarger subset, etc. A portion of the update may be first sent, then theremaining portion sent from the same or another vehicle. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide an update fora transport's computer to the transport and a transportoperator's/occupant's device. The update is maybe authorized by alldrivers and/or all occupants. The software update is provided to thevehicle and the device(s). The user doesn't have to do anything but goproximate to the vehicle and the functionality automatically occurs. Anotification is sent to the device(s) indicating that the softwareupdate is completed. In one embodiment, the solutions can also beutilized to validate that an OTA software update is performed by aqualified technician and generation, by the one or more transportcomponents, of a status related to: an originator of the validationcode, a procedure for wirelessly receiving the software update,information contained in the software update, and results of thevalidation.

In one embodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide theability to parse a software update located in a first component by asecond component. Then verifying the first portion of critical updatesand a second portion of non-critical updates, assigning the verifiedfirst portion to one process in the transport, running the verifiedfirst portion with the one process for a period of time, and responsiveto positive results based on the period of time, running the verifiedfirst portion with other processes after the period of time. In oneembodiment, the solutions can also be utilized to provide a selection ofservices to an occupant where the services are based on a profile of anoccupant of the transport, and a shared profile which is shared with theprofile of the occupant. In one embodiment, the solutions can also beutilized to store user profile data in a blockchain and intelligentlypresent offers and recommendations to a user based on the user'sautomatically gathered history of purchases and preferences acquiredfrom the user profile on the blockchain.

FIG. 3A illustrates a flow diagram 300, according to exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 3A, the processor may perform one or moreof determine an energy transfer condition exists along a route 302,route to a location on the route based on the energy transfer conditionexceeding an energy transfer value and based on one or more trafficconditions 304, align a position of the transport at the location towirelessly receive an energy transfer 306, and receive the energytransfer while the transport is in motion 308.

FIG. 3B illustrates another flow diagram 320, according to exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 3B, the processor may perform one or moreof determine the one or more traffic conditions along the route,determine the transport location and one or more additional transportlocations, and determine the one or more traffic conditions and thetransport location will satisfy the energy transfer condition 302,identify a position of one or more additional transports in motion,change a position of the transport to be within a distance of the one ormore additional transports 304, receive a portion of the energy transferat a first location of the transport body for a first period of time,and receive another portion of the energy transfer at a second locationof the transport body for a second period of time to complete the energytransfer 306, determine an estimated amount of time, based on one ormore traffic conditions, the transport and one or more additionaltransports will be optimally aligned while moving during the energytransfer, and determine the energy transfer condition exists based onthe estimated amount of time 308.

FIG. 3C illustrates yet another flow diagram 340, according to exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 3C, the processor may perform one or moreof receive a validation of the energy transfer from at least onecomponent, and the validation comprises a blockchain consensus between apeer group consisting of the transport and the at least one component342, and execute a smart contract to record the energy transfer and theat least one component on a blockchain based on the blockchain consensus344.

FIG. 4 illustrates a machine learning transport network diagram 400,according to example embodiments. The network 400 includes a transportnode 402 that interfaces with a machine learning subsystem 406. Thetransport node includes one or more sensors 404.

The machine learning subsystem 406 contains a learning model 408, whichis a mathematical artifact created by a machine learning training system410 that generates predictions by finding patterns in one or moretraining data sets. In some embodiments, the machine learning subsystem406 resides in the transport node 402. In other embodiments, the machinelearning subsystem 406 resides outside of the transport node 402.

The transport node 402 sends data from the one or more sensors 404 tothe machine learning subsystem 406. The machine learning subsystem 406provides the one or more sensor 404 data to the learning model 408,which returns one or more predictions. The machine learning subsystem406 sends one or more instructions to the transport node 402 based onthe predictions from the learning model 408.

In a further embodiment, the transport node 402 may send the one or moresensor 404 data to the machine learning training system 410. In yetanother embodiment, the machine learning subsystem 406 may sent thesensor 404 data to the machine learning subsystem 410. One or more ofthe applications, features, steps, solutions, etc., described and/ordepicted herein may utilize the machine learning network 400 asdescribed herein.

FIG. 5A illustrates an example vehicle configuration 500 for managingdatabase transactions associated with a vehicle, according to exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 5A, as a particular transport/vehicle 525is engaged in transactions (e.g., vehicle service, dealer transactions,delivery/pickup, transportation services, etc.), the vehicle may receiveassets 510 and/or expel/transfer assets 512 according to atransaction(s). A transport processor 526 resides in the vehicle 525 andcommunication exists between the transport processor 526, a database530, a transport processor 526 and the transaction module 520. Thetransaction module 520 may record information, such as assets, parties,credits, service descriptions, date, time, location, results,notifications, unexpected events, etc. Those transactions in thetransaction module 520 may be replicated into a database 530. Thedatabase 530 can be one of a SQL database, an RDBMS, a relationaldatabase, a non-relational database, a blockchain, a distributed ledger,and may be on board the transport, may be off board the transport, maybe accessible directly and/or through a network, or be accessible to thetransport.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example vehicle configuration 550 for managingdatabase transactions conducted among various vehicles, according toexample embodiments. The vehicle 525 may engage with another vehicle 508to perform various actions such as to share, transfer, acquire servicecalls, etc. when the vehicle has reached a status where the servicesneed to be shared with another vehicle. For example, the vehicle 508 maybe due for a battery charge and/or may have an issue with a tire and maybe in route to pick up a package for delivery. A transport processor 528resides in the vehicle 508 and communication exists between thetransport processor 528, a database 554, and the transaction module 552.The vehicle 508 may notify another vehicle 525, which is in its networkand which operates on its blockchain member service. A transportprocessor 526 resides in the vehicle 525 and communication existsbetween the transport processor 526, a database 530, the transportprocessor 526 and a transaction module 520. The vehicle 525 may thenreceive the information via a wireless communication request to performthe package pickup from the vehicle 508 and/or from a server (notshown). The transactions are logged in the transaction modules 552 and520 of both vehicles. The credits are transferred from vehicle 508 tovehicle 525 and the record of the transferred service is logged in thedatabase 530/554 assuming that the blockchains are different from oneanother, or, are logged in the same blockchain used by all members. Thedatabase 554 can be one of a SQL database, an RDBMS, a relationaldatabase, a non-relational database, a blockchain, a distributed ledger,and may be on board the transport, may be off board the transport, maybe accessible directly and/or through a network.

FIG. 6A illustrates a blockchain architecture configuration 600,according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 6A, the blockchainarchitecture 600 may include certain blockchain elements, for example, agroup of blockchain member nodes 602-606 as part of a blockchain group610. In one example embodiment, a permissioned blockchain is notaccessible to all parties but only to those members with permissionedaccess to the blockchain data. The blockchain nodes participate in anumber of activities, such as blockchain entry addition and validationprocess (consensus). One or more of the blockchain nodes may endorseentries based on an endorsement policy and may provide an orderingservice for all blockchain nodes. A blockchain node may initiate ablockchain action (such as an authentication) and seek to write to ablockchain immutable ledger stored in the blockchain, a copy of whichmay also be stored on the underpinning physical infrastructure.

The blockchain transactions 620 are stored in memory of computers as thetransactions are received and approved by the consensus model dictatedby the members' nodes. Approved transactions 626 are stored in currentblocks of the blockchain and committed to the blockchain via a committalprocedure, which includes performing a hash of the data contents of thetransactions in a current block and referencing a previous hash of aprevious block. Within the blockchain, one or more smart contracts 630may exist that define the terms of transaction agreements and actionsincluded in smart contract executable application code 632, such asregistered recipients, vehicle features, requirements, permissions,sensor thresholds, etc. The code may be configured to identify whetherrequesting entities are registered to receive vehicle services, whatservice features they are entitled/required to receive given theirprofile statuses and whether to monitor their actions in subsequentevents. For example, when a service event occurs and a user is riding inthe vehicle, the sensor data monitoring may be triggered, and a certainparameter, such as a vehicle charge level, may be identified as beingabove/below a particular threshold for a particular period of time, thenthe result may be a change to a current status, which requires an alertto be sent to the managing party (i.e., vehicle owner, vehicle operator,server, etc.) so the service can be identified and stored for reference.The vehicle sensor data collected may be based on types of sensor dataused to collect information about vehicle's status. The sensor data mayalso be the basis for the vehicle event data 634, such as a location(s)to be traveled, an average speed, a top speed, acceleration rates,whether there were any collisions, was the expected route taken, what isthe next destination, whether safety measures are in place, whether thevehicle has enough charge/fuel, etc. All such information may be thebasis of smart contract terms 630, which are then stored in ablockchain. For example, sensor thresholds stored in the smart contractcan be used as the basis for whether a detected service is necessary andwhen and where the service should be performed.

FIG. 6B illustrates a shared ledger configuration, according to exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 6B, the blockchain logic example 640includes a blockchain application interface 642 as an API or plug-inapplication that links to the computing device and execution platformfor a particular transaction. The blockchain configuration 640 mayinclude one or more applications, which are linked to applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) to access and execute storedprogram/application code (e.g., smart contract executable code, smartcontracts, etc.), which can be created according to a customizedconfiguration sought by participants and can maintain their own state,control their own assets, and receive external information. This can bedeployed as an entry and installed, via appending to the distributedledger, on all blockchain nodes.

The smart contract application code 644 provides a basis for theblockchain transactions by establishing application code, which whenexecuted causes the transaction terms and conditions to become active.The smart contract 630, when executed, causes certain approvedtransactions 626 to be generated, which are then forwarded to theblockchain platform 652. The platform includes a security/authorization658, computing devices, which execute the transaction management 656 anda storage portion 654 as a memory that stores transactions and smartcontracts in the blockchain.

The blockchain platform may include various layers of blockchain data,services (e.g., cryptographic trust services, virtual executionenvironment, etc.), and underpinning physical computer infrastructurethat may be used to receive and store new entries and provide access toauditors, which are seeking to access data entries. The blockchain mayexpose an interface that provides access to the virtual executionenvironment necessary to process the program code and engage thephysical infrastructure. Cryptographic trust services may be used toverify entries such as asset exchange entries and keep informationprivate.

The blockchain architecture configuration of FIGS. 6A and 6B may processand execute program/application code via one or more interfaces exposed,and services provided, by the blockchain platform. As a non-limitingexample, smart contracts may be created to execute reminders, updates,and/or other notifications subject to the changes, updates, etc. Thesmart contracts can themselves be used to identify rules associated withauthorization and access requirements and usage of the ledger. Forexample, the information may include a new entry, which may be processedby one or more processing entities (e.g., processors, virtual machines,etc.) included in the blockchain layer. The result may include adecision to reject or approve the new entry based on the criteriadefined in the smart contract and/or a consensus of the peers. Thephysical infrastructure may be utilized to retrieve any of the data orinformation described herein.

Within smart contract executable code, a smart contract may be createdvia a high-level application and programming language, and then writtento a block in the blockchain. The smart contract may include executablecode that is registered, stored, and/or replicated with a blockchain(e.g., distributed network of blockchain peers). An entry is anexecution of the smart contract code, which can be performed in responseto conditions associated with the smart contract being satisfied. Theexecuting of the smart contract may trigger a trusted modification(s) toa state of a digital blockchain ledger. The modification(s) to theblockchain ledger caused by the smart contract execution may beautomatically replicated throughout the distributed network ofblockchain peers through one or more consensus protocols.

The smart contract may write data to the blockchain in the format ofkey-value pairs. Furthermore, the smart contract code can read thevalues stored in a blockchain and use them in application operations.The smart contract code can write the output of various logic operationsinto the blockchain. The code may be used to create a temporary datastructure in a virtual machine or other computing platform. Data writtento the blockchain can be public and/or can be encrypted and maintainedas private. The temporary data that is used/generated by the smartcontract is held in memory by the supplied execution environment, thendeleted once the data needed for the blockchain is identified.

A smart contract executable code may include the code interpretation ofa smart contract, with additional features. As described herein, thesmart contract executable code may be program code deployed on acomputing network, where it is executed and validated by chainvalidators together during a consensus process. The smart contractexecutable code receives a hash and retrieves from the blockchain a hashassociated with the data template created by use of a previously storedfeature extractor. If the hashes of the hash identifier and the hashcreated from the stored identifier template data match, then the smartcontract executable code sends an authorization key to the requestedservice. The smart contract executable code may write to the blockchaindata associated with the cryptographic details.

FIG. 6C illustrates a blockchain configuration for storing blockchaintransaction data, according to example embodiments. Referring to FIG.6C, the example configuration 660 provides for the vehicle 662, the userdevice 664 and a server 666 sharing information with a distributedledger (i.e., blockchain) 668. The server may represent a serviceprovider entity inquiring with a vehicle service provider to share userprofile rating information in the event that a known and establisheduser profile is attempting to rent a vehicle with an established ratedprofile. The server 666 may be receiving and processing data related toa vehicle's service requirements. As the service events occur, such asthe vehicle sensor data indicates a need for fuel/charge, a maintenanceservice, etc., a smart contract may be used to invoke rules, thresholds,sensor information gathering, etc., which may be used to invoke thevehicle service event. The blockchain transaction data 670 is saved foreach transaction, such as the access event, the subsequent updates to avehicle's service status, event updates, etc. The transactions mayinclude the parties, the requirements (e.g., 18 years of age, serviceeligible candidate, valid driver's license, etc.), compensation levels,the distance traveled during the event, the registered recipientspermitted to access the event and host a vehicle service,rights/permissions, sensor data retrieved during the vehicle eventoperation to log details of the next service event and identify avehicle's condition status, and thresholds used to make determinationsabout whether the service event was completed and whether the vehicle'scondition status has changed.

FIG. 6D illustrates blockchain blocks 680 that can be added to adistributed ledger, according to example embodiments, and contents ofblock structures 682A to 682 n. Referring to FIG. 6D, clients (notshown) may submit entries to blockchain nodes to enact activity on theblockchain. As an example, clients may be applications that act onbehalf of a requester, such as a device, person or entity to proposeentries for the blockchain. The plurality of blockchain peers (e.g.,blockchain nodes) may maintain a state of the blockchain network and acopy of the distributed ledger. Different types of blockchainnodes/peers may be present in the blockchain network including endorsingpeers, which simulate and endorse entries proposed by clients andcommitting peers which verify endorsements, validate entries, and commitentries to the distributed ledger. In this example, the blockchain nodesmay perform the role of endorser node, committer node, or both.

The instant system includes a blockchain that stores immutable,sequenced records in blocks, and a state database (current world state)maintaining a current state of the blockchain. One distributed ledgermay exist per channel and each peer maintains its own copy of thedistributed ledger for each channel of which they are a member. Theinstant blockchain is an entry log, structured as hash-linked blockswhere each block contains a sequence of N entries. Blocks may includevarious components such as those shown in FIG. 6D. The linking of theblocks may be generated by adding a hash of a prior block's headerwithin a block header of a current block. In this way, all entries onthe blockchain are sequenced and cryptographically linked togetherpreventing tampering with blockchain data without breaking the hashlinks. Furthermore, because of the links, the latest block in theblockchain represents every entry that has come before it. The instantblockchain may be stored on a peer file system (local or attachedstorage), which supports an append-only blockchain workload.

The current state of the blockchain and the distributed ledger may bestored in the state database. Here, the current state data representsthe latest values for all keys ever included in the chain entry log ofthe blockchain. Smart contract executable code invocations executeentries against the current state in the state database. To make thesesmart contract executable code interactions extremely efficient, thelatest values of all keys are stored in the state database. The statedatabase may include an indexed view into the entry log of theblockchain, it can therefore be regenerated from the chain at any time.The state database may automatically get recovered (or generated ifneeded) upon peer startup, before entries are accepted.

Endorsing nodes receive entries from clients and endorse the entry basedon simulated results. Endorsing nodes hold smart contracts, whichsimulate the entry proposals. When an endorsing node endorses an entry,the endorsing nodes creates an entry endorsement, which is a signedresponse from the endorsing node to the client application indicatingthe endorsement of the simulated entry. The method of endorsing an entrydepends on an endorsement policy that may be specified within smartcontract executable code. An example of an endorsement policy is “themajority of endorsing peers must endorse the entry.” Different channelsmay have different endorsement policies. Endorsed entries are forward bythe client application to an ordering service.

The ordering service accepts endorsed entries, orders them into a block,and delivers the blocks to the committing peers. For example, theordering service may initiate a new block when a threshold of entrieshas been reached, a timer times out, or another condition. In thisexample, blockchain node is a committing peer that has received a datablock 682A for storage on the blockchain. The ordering service may bemade up of a cluster of orderers. The ordering service does not processentries, smart contracts, or maintain the shared ledger. Rather, theordering service may accept the endorsed entries and specifies the orderin which those entries are committed to the distributed ledger. Thearchitecture of the blockchain network may be designed such that thespecific implementation of ‘ordering’ (e.g., Solo, Kafka, BFT, etc.)becomes a pluggable component.

Entries are written to the distributed ledger in a consistent order. Theorder of entries is established to ensure that the updates to the statedatabase are valid when they are committed to the network. Unlike acryptocurrency blockchain system (e.g., Bitcoin, etc.) where orderingoccurs through the solving of a cryptographic puzzle, or mining, in thisexample the parties of the distributed ledger may choose the orderingmechanism that best suits that network.

Referring to FIG. 6D, a block 682A (also referred to as a data block)that is stored on the blockchain and/or the distributed ledger mayinclude multiple data segments such as a block header 684A to 684 n,transaction specific data 686A to 686 n, and block metadata 688A to 688n. It should be appreciated that the various depicted blocks and theircontents, such as block 682A and its contents are merely for purposes ofan example and are not meant to limit the scope of the exampleembodiments. In some cases, both the block header 684A and the blockmetadata 688A may be smaller than the transaction specific data 686A,which stores entry data; however, this is not a requirement. The block682A may store transactional information of N entries (e.g., 100, 500,1000, 2000, 3000, etc.) within the block data 690A to 690n. The block682A may also include a link to a previous block (e.g., on theblockchain) within the block header 684A. In particular, the blockheader 684A may include a hash of a previous block's header. The blockheader 684A may also include a unique block number, a hash of the blockdata 690A of the current block 682A, and the like. The block number ofthe block 682A may be unique and assigned in an incremental/sequentialorder starting from zero. The first block in the blockchain may bereferred to as a genesis block, which includes information about theblockchain, its members, the data stored therein, etc.

The block data 690A may store entry information of each entry that isrecorded within the block. For example, the entry data may include oneor more of a type of the entry, a version, a timestamp, a channel ID ofthe distributed ledger, an entry ID, an epoch, a payload visibility, asmart contract executable code path (deploy tx), a smart contractexecutable code name, a smart contract executable code version, input(smart contract executable code and functions), a client (creator)identify such as a public key and certificate, a signature of theclient, identities of endorsers, endorser signatures, a proposal hash,smart contract executable code events, response status, namespace, aread set (list of key and version read by the entry, etc.), a write set(list of key and value, etc.), a start key, an end key, a list of keys,a Merkel tree query summary, and the like. The entry data may be storedfor each of the N entries.

In some embodiments, the block data 690A may also store transactionspecific data 686A, which adds additional information to the hash-linkedchain of blocks in the blockchain. Accordingly, the data 686A can bestored in an immutable log of blocks on the distributed ledger. Some ofthe benefits of storing such data 686A are reflected in the variousembodiments disclosed and depicted herein. The block metadata 688A maystore multiple fields of metadata (e.g., as a byte array, etc.).Metadata fields may include signature on block creation, a reference toa last configuration block, an entry filter identifying valid andinvalid entries within the block, last offset persisted of an orderingservice that ordered the block, and the like. The signature, the lastconfiguration block, and the orderer metadata may be added by theordering service. Meanwhile, a committer of the block (such as ablockchain node) may add validity/invalidity information based on anendorsement policy, verification of read/write sets, and the like. Theentry filter may include a byte array of a size equal to the number ofentries in the block data 610A and a validation code identifying whetheran entry was valid/invalid.

The other blocks 682B to 682 n in the blockchain also have headers,files, and values. However, unlike the first block 682A, each of theheaders 684A to 684 n in the other blocks includes the hash value of animmediately preceding block. The hash value of the immediately precedingblock may be just the hash of the header of the previous block or may bethe hash value of the entire previous block. By including the hash valueof a preceding block in each of the remaining blocks, a trace can beperformed from the Nth block back to the genesis block (and theassociated original file) on a block-by-block basis, as indicated byarrows 692, to establish an auditable and immutable chain-of-custody.

The above embodiments may be implemented in hardware, in a computerprogram executed by a processor, in firmware, or in a combination of theabove. A computer program may be embodied on a computer readable medium,such as a storage medium. For example, a computer program may reside inrandom access memory (“RAM”), flash memory, read-only memory (“ROM”),erasable programmable read-only memory (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a compact disk read-only memory (“CD-ROM”), or any otherform of storage medium known in the art.

An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such thatthe processor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In the alternative,the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.For example, FIG. 7 illustrates an example computer system architecture700, which may represent or be integrated in any of the above-describedcomponents, etc.

FIG. 7 is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of useor functionality of embodiments of the application described herein.Regardless, the computing node 700 is capable of being implementedand/or performing any of the functionality set forth hereinabove.

In computing node 700 there is a computer system/server 702, which isoperational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 702 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 702 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system-executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 702 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 7, computer system/server 702 in cloud computing node700 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 702 may include, but are notlimited to, one or more processors or processing units 704, a systemmemory 706, and a bus that couples various system components includingsystem memory 706 to processor 704.

The bus represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 702 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 702, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. System memory706, in one embodiment, implements the flow diagrams of the otherfigures. The system memory 706 can include computer system readablemedia in the form of volatile memory, such as random-access memory (RAM)708 and/or cache memory 710. Computer system/server 702 may furtherinclude other removable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computersystem storage media. By way of example only, memory 706 can be providedfor reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magneticmedia (not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although notshown, a magnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to aremovable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and anoptical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable,non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other opticalmedia can be provided. In such instances, each can be connected to thebus by one or more data media interfaces. As will be further depictedand described below, memory 706 may include at least one program producthaving a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules that are configuredto carry out the functions of various embodiments of the application.

Program/utility, having a set (at least one) of program modules, may bestored in memory 706 by way of example, and not limitation, as well asan operating system, one or more application programs, other programmodules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one or moreapplication programs, other program modules, and program data or somecombination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of various embodiments of the application as describedherein.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentapplication may be embodied as a system, method, or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present application may take theform of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present application may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Computer system/server 702 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices via an I/O device 712 (such as an I/O adapter), whichmay include a keyboard, a pointing device, a display, a voicerecognition module, etc., one or more devices that enable a user tointeract with computer system/server 702, and/or any devices (e.g.,network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 702 tocommunicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communicationcan occur via I/O interfaces of the device 712. Still yet, computersystem/server 702 can communicate with one or more networks such as alocal area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or apublic network (e.g., the Internet) via a network adapter. As depicted,device 712 communicates with the other components of computersystem/server 702 via a bus. It should be understood that although notshown, other hardware and/or software components could be used inconjunction with computer system/server 702. Examples, include, but arenot limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units,external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archivalstorage systems, etc.

Although an exemplary embodiment of at least one of a system, method,and non-transitory computer readable medium has been illustrated in theaccompanied drawings and described in the foregoing detaileddescription, it will be understood that the application is not limitedto the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements,modifications, and substitutions as set forth and defined by thefollowing claims. For example, the capabilities of the system of thevarious figures can be performed by one or more of the modules orcomponents described herein or in a distributed architecture and mayinclude a transmitter, receiver or pair of both. For example, all orpart of the functionality performed by the individual modules, may beperformed by one or more of these modules. Further, the functionalitydescribed herein may be performed at various times and in relation tovarious events, internal or external to the modules or components. Also,the information sent between various modules can be sent between themodules via at least one of: a data network, the Internet, a voicenetwork, an Internet Protocol network, a wireless device, a wired deviceand/or via plurality of protocols. Also, the messages sent or receivedby any of the modules may be sent or received directly and/or via one ormore of the other modules.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that a “system” could be embodiedas a personal computer, a server, a console, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a cell phone, a tablet computing device, a smartphoneor any other suitable computing device, or combination of devices.Presenting the above-described functions as being performed by a“system” is not intended to limit the scope of the present applicationin any way but is intended to provide one example of many embodiments.Indeed, methods, systems and apparatuses disclosed herein may beimplemented in localized and distributed forms consistent with computingtechnology.

It should be noted that some of the system features described in thisspecification have been presented as modules, in order to moreparticularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, amodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom verylarge-scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelfsemiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discretecomponents. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardwaredevices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable arraylogic, programmable logic devices, graphics processing units, or thelike.

A module may also be at least partially implemented in software forexecution by various types of processors. An identified unit ofexecutable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions that may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified module need not be physically locatedtogether but may comprise disparate instructions stored in differentlocations that when joined logically together, comprise the module andachieve the stated purpose for the module. Further, modules may bestored on a computer-readable medium, which may be, for instance, a harddisk drive, flash device, random access memory (RAM), tape, or any othersuch medium used to store data.

Indeed, a module of executa2ble code could be a single instruction, ormany instructions, and may even be distributed over several differentcode segments, among different programs, and across several memorydevices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustratedherein within modules and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork.

It will be readily understood that the components of the application, asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the detailed description of the embodiments is not intended tolimit the scope of the application as claimed but is merelyrepresentative of selected embodiments of the application.

One having ordinary skill in the art will readily understand that theabove may be practiced with steps in a different order, and/or withhardware elements in configurations that are different than those whichare disclosed. Therefore, although the application has been describedbased upon these preferred embodiments, it would be apparent to those ofskill in the art that certain modifications, variations, and alternativeconstructions would be apparent.

While preferred embodiments of the present application have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and the scope of the application is to be definedsolely by the appended claims when considered with a full range ofequivalents and modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices,software platforms etc.) thereto.

1. A method, comprising: determining, by a transport, an energy transfercondition exists along a route based on an estimated amount of time;determining the estimated amount of time, based on one or more trafficconditions, the transport and one or more additional transports will beoptimally aligned while moving during the energy transfer; routing, bythe transport, to a location on the route based on the energy transfercondition exceeding an energy transfer value and based on the one ormore traffic conditions; and receiving, by the transport, the energytransfer while the transport is in motion.
 2. The method of claim 1,comprising determining the one or more traffic conditions along theroute; determining a transport location and one or more additionaltransport locations; and determining the one or more traffic conditionsand the transport location will satisfy the energy transfer condition.3. The method of claim 1, comprising identifying a position of one ormore additional transports in motion; and changing a position of thetransport to be within a distance of the one or more additionaltransports.
 4. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving a portion ofthe energy transfer at a first location of the transport body for afirst period of time; and receiving another portion of the energytransfer at a second location of the transport body for a second periodof time to complete the energy transfer.
 5. The method of claim 1,comprising determining an estimated amount of time, based on one or moretraffic conditions, the transport and one or more additional transportswill be optimally aligned while moving during the energy transfer; anddetermining the energy transfer condition exists based on the estimatedamount of time.
 6. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving, by thetransport, a validation of the energy transfer from at least onecomponent, wherein the validation comprises a blockchain consensusbetween a peer group consisting of the transport and the at least onecomponent.
 7. The method of claim 6, comprising executing a smartcontract, by the transport, to record the validation on the blockchainbased on the blockchain consensus.
 8. A transport, comprising: aprocessor configured to determine an energy transfer condition existsalong a route based on an estimated amount of time; determine theestimated amount of time, based on one or more traffic conditions, thetransport and one or more additional transports will be optimallyaligned while moving during the energy transfer; route to a location onthe route based on the energy transfer condition that exceeds an energytransfer value and based on the one or more traffic conditions; andreceive the energy transfer while the transport is in motion.
 9. Thetransport of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured todetermine the one or more traffic conditions along the route; determinea transport location and one or more additional transport locations; anddetermine the one or more traffic conditions and the transport locationwill satisfy the energy transfer condition.
 10. The transport of claim8, wherein the processor is further configured to identify a position ofone or more additional transports in motion; and change a position ofthe transport to be within a distance of the one or more additionaltransports.
 11. The transport of claim 8, wherein the processor isfurther configured to receive a portion of the energy transfer at afirst location of the transport body for a first period of time; andreceive another portion of the energy transfer at a second location ofthe transport body for a second period of time to complete the energytransfer.
 12. The transport of claim 8, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to determine an estimated amount of time, based on one ormore traffic conditions, the transport and one or more additionaltransports will be optimally aligned while in motion and while theenergy transfer occurs; and determine the energy transfer conditionexists based on the estimated amount of time.
 13. The transport of claim8, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a validationof the energy transfer from at least one component, wherein thevalidation comprises a blockchain consensus between a peer groupconsisting of the transport and the at least one component.
 14. Thetransport of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured toexecute a smart contract, by the transport, to record the validation onthe blockchain based on the blockchain consensus.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium configured to store instructions thatwhen executed cause a processor to perform: determining, by a transport,an energy transfer condition exists along a route based on an estimatedamount of time; determining the estimated amount of time, based on oneor more traffic conditions, the transport and one or more additionaltransports will be optimally aligned while moving during the energytransfer; routing, by the transport, to a location on the route based onthe energy transfer condition exceeding an energy transfer value andbased on one or more traffic conditions; and receiving, by thetransport, the energy transfer while the transport is in motion.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theprocessor is further configured to perform: determining the one or moretraffic conditions along the route; determining thea transport locationand one or more additional transport locations; and determining the oneor more traffic conditions and the transport location will satisfy theenergy transfer condition.
 17. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configuredto perform: identifying a position of one or more additional transportsin motion; and changing a position of the transport to be within adistance of the one or more additional transports.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein theprocessor is further configured to perform: receiving a portion of theenergy transfer at a first location of the transport body for a firstperiod of time; and receiving another portion of the energy transfer ata second location of the transport body for a second period of time tocomplete the energy transfer.
 19. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configuredto perform: determining an estimated amount of time, based on one ormore traffic conditions, the transport and one or more additionaltransports will be optimally aligned while moving during the energytransfer; and determining the energy transfer condition exists based onthe estimated amount of time.
 20. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configuredto perform: receiving, by the transport, a validation of the energytransfer from at least one component, wherein the validation comprises ablockchain consensus between a peer group consisting of the transportand the at least one component.